Violence against Women

In a recent comedy show that aired on Cambodia’s Bayon television at the end of an All Stars Concert, a male comedian is seen repeatedly kicking and hitting his female counterpart with a piece of pipe. The live audience roars with laughter as the comedian continues the abuse throughout the three-and-a-half-minute segment. A girl was repeatedly hit… Read more

As the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign kicks off across the globe, prominent government and civil society leaders in Timor-Leste signed an important Charter last week declaring their own commitment to preventing violence against women and children. The move is a significant step forward in Timor-Leste, where violence agai… Read more

The Phnom Penh Post highlights The Asia Foundation’s media monitoring research conducted in Cambodia on reducing violence against women on Cambodian television: Media monitoring research conducted by the Asia Foundation shows that on the five largest national broadcasters – TV5, MyTV, CTN, Hang Meas and Bayon – 31 percent of aired programs contain… Read more

In 2014, Cambodia’s government endorsed its second National Action Plan for Violence Against Women—one of a handful of critical steps the country has taken recently in eliminating violence against women. While this is good news, the overall prevalence rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the last decade has changed little. According to the Ca… Read more

Last year, the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index ranked India 108 out of 145 countries. India’s neighbors have fared better in this ranking – Bangladesh is ranked 64th and Sri Lanka, 84th. A possible explanation is that, in India, kinship rules and cultural norms heavily govern life and human relations. Unfortunately, since these social condi… Read more

On June 14, The White House hosted the first-ever United State of Women Summit in Washington to rally women’s rights and gender equality advocates and to highlight achievements, identify remaining challenges, and chart the course for addressing them. To a packed audience of more than 5,000 people, speakers including President Obama, Vice President… Read more

Global statistics indicate pandemic rates of violence against women and girls. Worldwide, approximately one in three women has experienced either physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner, or sexual violence by a non-partner. An expanding evidence base on violence against women and girls has shed light on how violence is experienced ac… Read more

The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a New Delhi bus in 2012 sparked national outrage in India. Since then, other brutal acts of violence have taken place in India’s cities, including the rape and murder of a 30-year-old law student on April 28 in Kerala. There were 337,922 reported crimes against women in 2014, among them over 36,000 were rape…. Read more

The 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) kicked off last week, and the streets of New York City near Turtle Bay have been packed with government officials, NGO and multilateral representatives, activists, and academics.

India is one of the youngest countries in the world, with a significant segment of its 1.2 billion population in the age group of 20-35. By 2020, it is estimated that the average age in the country will be 29. For an economy that is growing at an annual rate of 7 percent…

On Monday, Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss pressing issues concerning law and order in the city. With eight out of 10 women in Delhi fearing for their safety, it is encouraging that the new commissioner views strengthening women’s security as a priority.

One year ago, the Cambodian government officially launched its second National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (NAPVAW), reinforcing its commitment to eliminating violence against women. In the early 1990s, The Asia Foundation broke ground with a landmark study…

Last month, China passed its first-ever national law against domestic violence, the result of a decade-long campaign driven by the country’s civil society groups. The new law, which goes into effect on March 1, takes a significant step forward from existing legislation by legally defining domestic violence as physical and psychological abuse of family members…

Asia’s newest country, Timor-Leste, boasts one of the highest rates of female parliamentarians in the region and has made a number of important legislative advances in recent years on domestic violence.

November 25 marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and we are now in the midst of a global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. (Tune in next Thursday, December 10 at 11am EST to our live #GBVChat Tweetchat relay…

Despite recent progress in the overall reporting of rape in Pakistan, conviction rates remain disappointingly low. Victims of sexual assault, usually women or children, often choose not to register a complaint, due to social stigma and the biased attitudes of service providers.

On October 11, global communities will mark the International Day of the Girl Child to celebrate girls’ rights and to recognize the achievements and shortcomings since the launch of the Millennium Development Goals…

We sat down this week with Asia Foundation Trustee Melanne Verveer, director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, and the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues from 2009 to 2013. We asked her how far women had come in Asia, and how far they had yet to go.

At the opening of the 59th Commission on the Status of Women at UN Headquarters on March 9, world leaders issued a political declaration calling for gender equality by 2030. In Asia editor Alma Freeman spoke with Barbara Rodriguez, The Asia Foundation’s assistant director for women’s empowerment programs, and Kate Bollinger…

The debate over women’s rights as a central element of development has been transformed in the 20 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s clarion call to action, “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.”

It is estimated that every 20 minutes a rape occurs in India. Those who work on the front lines of providing legal and health services to victims say that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, it is widely accepted that close to 90 percent of rape incidences in India happen within the household…

On February 16, Dr. Rui Maria de Araújo delivered his first speech as new prime minister of Timor-Leste, driving home a commitment to peace, reconciliation, economic development, and poverty reduction. He also emphasized the need to build a more inclusive society…

In Asia editor Alma Freeman sat down with Asia Foundation trustee Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, who visited Asia Foundation headquarters in San Francisco having just concluded a 7-month post as chargé d’affaires at the U.S Embassy in New Delhi.

Propelled by the leadership of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Cambodia is emerging as a regional, if not global, role model for advocating prevention of violence against women. Today, major gender-responsive policies are being produced, including the 2nd National Action Plan to Prevent Violence against Women…

On Friday evening, December 5, a young woman, just finishing work in Gurgaon, India (a satellite city which is part of the larger National Capital Region), goes to meet her friends at a pub in South Delhi, and decides to call an Uber home. This chain of events is typical of what many young professionals…

Acid crimes have long been recognized as one of the most horrendous manifestations of gender-based violence, directed largely at women, who account for an overwhelming 80 percent of all cases globally. In a country like Pakistan, where conservative ideals and deeply rooted patriarchal structures have shaped its psyche and social fabric…

One year ago, on December 16, the fatal rape case of a 23-year-old woman in a Delhi suburb shocked the nation, grabbing international news headlines, and mobilized the government and civil society to recognize…

Every year, a “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” campaign is held across the globe, including in Mongolia, to increase awareness about this global pandemic. This year in Mongolia, the spotlight was shone on domestic violence…